Perfect Family
by caarlgriimes
Summary: Rick's relationship with Jessie causes Carl to rethink were he fits in to his dad's new family but Michonne is there to help.
1. Chapter 1

Michonne opened the door to their house ready to collapse on her bed and sleep for days. She and Rick had been clearing walkers by the wall since 7am and it was now 3pm. They had both decided to quit for the day and to Michonne's displeasure Rick had decided to go visit Jessie. Michonne didn't mind Rick being with Jessie but he had begun neglecting his other responsibilities namely being a father to Carl. It was probably due to the fate of Pete Anderson but Rick had begun spending a lot of time with the Anderson children leaving Carl to babysit his little sister the majority of time.

Michonne climbed the stairs to her bedroom but stopped when she heard muffled sobbing coming from Carl's bedroom. All thoughts of sleep cleared from her mind as she stopped and knocked on his door, it opened a fraction revealing one of Carl's large blue eyes in the gap, making eye contact with Michonne he opened the door a little wider revealing himself and although his face was partially covered by both his hair and the sleeve of his shirt that he had a habit of chewing on she could clearly see the tear tracks on his face and the puffiness around his eyes.

He quickly wiped his face as he opened the door fully "Uh Michonne your home early"

"Yeah we finished clearing the walkers so we thought we would turn in for the day"

Carl suddenly looked worried "Is dad home too?"

"No he went over to Jessie's" Michonne tried to get a better look at Carl's face but he continued to avoid her gaze "Do you want to come downstairs and Ill make you some tea?"

Carl thought for a moment then nodded continuing to chew on his shirt sleeve. Carl followed Michonne down to the living room taking a seat on the couch and Michonne went to the kitchen to make tea.

Michonne walked back into the living room with two mugs of tea, handing one to Carl who had pushed himself into the corner of the couch bringing his knees up under his chin "thank you" he uttered quietly taking a sip.

Michonne took a seat next to him placing her mug on the coffee table and turning to Carl "Are you okay?"

Carl took another sip of tea and placed it on the coffee table wrapping his arms around his legs "I'm fine" he said hiding his face in his knees.

"no your not" Michonne said moving closer to Carl "I care about you Carl and I hate seeing you upset."

"I know" He lifted his head slightly making eye contact with her, his eyes still red and puffy "You'll think I'm being stupid" He said pushing his head back into his knees.

Michonne moved closer to him putting a hand on his shoulder "I promise I wont think its stupid just tell me what's wrong"

He sniffled and wiped his eyes with his sleeve "I'm scared"

"about what?" she asked

"about dad" he replied the sadness clear in his voice.

"Your dad's not going to hurt you h-"

"NO" Carl exclaimed looking at Michonne with a panicked expression.

Carl moved his head back behind his knees "I'm not scared of him, I just…" he paused then in little more than a whisper he continued "what if he doesn't want me any more"

This caught Michonne of guard, she had expected Carl to be angry and resentful towards his father for being absent over the last couple of weeks but she stayed quiet as he continued.

"This is the type of place my parents wanted, he wants to start over and make things normal again with a normal house and normal wife and normal children. He's making his new perfect family and they all fit, Jessie fits, Ron fits, Sam fits, even Judith fits, but I don't, I'm not a normal kid any more, I've killed people, I killed my own mother! I cant sleep without nightmares, I see them every time I close my eyes, I cant even handle staying here behind these walls I feel like I'm going insane, I'm paranoid, I cant trust people, I'm a monster. What if he doesn't want me any more, I'm too fucked up, I'm scared he wants to replace me with Jessie and her normal family". Carl was balling by the end, crying into his jeans.

Michonne moved to hug the boy and he quickly threw his arms around her middle and continued crying into her shoulder.

"Your dad isn't going to replace you Carl" she said quietly silently glad Rick wasn't anywhere near her so she couldn't beat the shit out of him for making his son feel like this.

"He loves you and cares about you and he isn't going to replace you" Michonne said moving Carl away from her shoulder and looking him in the eyes.

"I know you miss him he's just having a hard time adjusting, he wants his old life back and we have to let him go through this but no matter what he cares about you more than anyone else in the world" Defending Rick was not what Michonne wanted to be doing right now she wanted to be violently attacking Rick but she could see it was making Carl feel better and he would always come first.

"Thanks" Carl said groggily through his slowing tears. Michonne grabbed a tissue from the box on the coffee table handing it to Carl so he could blow his nose.

A few minutes past and Carl began to calm down, his tears beginning to dry on his face "I'm sorry" he whispered.

Michonne sighed placing her hand back on Carl's shoulder "You have nothing to apologize for, were family and you can tell me anything okay?"

Carl nodded before giving Michonne another hug "Your father on the other hand-"

"You can't tell him" Carl interjected jumping back into his corner of the sofa looking panicked.

"Carl your dad owes you an apology, he can't take you for granted and he needs to spend more time with you, you deserve better,"He loves you and cares about you and he isn't going to replace you, anyone would be lucky to have a son as great as you and Judith is the luckiest little sister in the world" Michonne said handing Carl his tea which he accepted hugging it to his chest.

"Thank you" he said looking over at Michonne "for everything but please don't tell him about this"

"No problem and I won't tell him unless you let me, I promise" she said standing up.

"Where are you going?" Carl asked turning his head to see her as she moved behind him.

Michonne picked up a large blanket draped on the back of the sofa and hung it over Carl's shoulders, gave him a kiss on the top of his head and ruffled his hair silently praying Rick would soon come to his senses.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

don't know when I'll get around to a third chapter but I will eventually.

Michonne sighed gently stroking Carl's hair as he slept next to her on the sofa curled up with a blanket pulled up to his chin resting his head on a pillow with his hair flopping onto Michonne's thigh. Michonne was having a fight with herself (as she often did). She had to talk to Rick about his behaviour but she didn't want to break Carl's trust, knowing how cautious Carl tended to be and how devastating it would be for him to be betrayed like that, but she couldn't just let Rick continue ignoring his son who was clearly not coping with his new surroundings.

Too angry to have a nap like she originally intended when she got home Michonne stood and walked to the kitchen to make herself some more tea to calm down before Rick got home and she felt the urge to punch him.

* * *

"What's up?" She heard behind her swinging around to face Rick standing in the doorway to the kitchen with a giant smile plastered on his face bringing Michonne's anger bubbling to the surface once again. She huffed angrily in response ignoring his question and swinging back around to take a sip from her mug.

"Are you Okay?" Rick asked sounding confused moving out of the doorway towards Michonne,leaning against the bench.

"Yep" She said in a passive aggressive tone slowly turning to face him with a disapproving scowl.

Rick frowned unsure what he could have possibly done to piss her off. "Are you sure?" he said skeptically.

"Yep everything's fine" she replied voice dripping with sarcasm, taking a long sip from her mug.

"Okay" he said cautiously "Well I just wanted to let you know I won't be home for dinner"

"Why not?" Michonne asked suspiciously.

"Jessie invited me to dinner at her house, be nice to get to know Ron and Sam" Rick said awkwardly tapping his foot and avoiding her gaze.

"Get to know Ron and Sam" She repeated indignantly in a low growl.

"Yeah her kids" Rick replied looking up at her confused by her anger not seeing any problem with the situation.

"And what about your kids?" She asked glaring over the rim of her mug at the clearly oblivious Rick.

"What about my kids?" Rick asked,eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"You haven't really been around recently, maybe you should spend some time with your own kids before you go adopting someone else's" Michonne said placing her mug on the counter and tried to calm her boiling rage towards Rick and his obliviousness.

Rick chuckled at this only making Michonne angrier. "I'm not adopting them"

"That wasn't the point" Michonne growled "When was the last time you came to dinner with everyone?" she asked, anger beginning to boil over but couldn't stop herself "When was the last time you asked Carl how he's going? If he's okay?!" She asked becoming increasingly angry with every word. "You're not the only one trying to adjust in here! He's struggling and you've just left him to fend for himself so you can go play family" she continued moving towards Rick who was looking quite scared at Michonne's outburst. "He needs you"

"He seems like he's been doing fine" Rick said timidly.

"That's because you haven't been here Rick!" Michonne said exasperated at Rick's lack of interest and understanding for his own son.

"I have been here and I understand he might have some trouble adjusting, but he has friends now, he goes to school, he's safe in here" Rick said defensively stepping back from Michonne who had ended up inches from his face.

Michonne exhaled deeply clenching her fist in an attempt to calm herself. "Rick" she said stepping closer again "Carl is not like the other kids here, he has been through too much to go back to being a normal kid and you can't expect him too, I know you have done everything to protect him but just because he's safe from what's out there doesn't mean he's safe from his own head, how is he supposed to react having to pretend like everything out there just doesn't exist. You expected him to act like an adult out there and now you expect him to act like a kid in here and he can't handle it"she said angrily getting even closer to Rick trying to make him understand "You need to talk to him and he needs to know that you don't expect him to be like the kids in here, that you will care about him no matter what" she continued, voice softening a little "He just wants you to be proud of him, seeing all these kids in here going to school and playing around, he knows that's what you wanted for him and he's terrified that if he can't be that you won't care about him anymore, you have to stop taking him for granted" Michonne finished feeling a twinge of guilt having betrayed Carl.

"He really thinks that?" Rick asked pleadingly hoping it wasn't true

"He told me" Michonne replied sighing.

Rick was silent for a long time staring at the floor "He really thinks I'll stop caring about him?" he asked looking back up at Michonne who nodded in response. "Do you know where he is?" he asked pinching the bridge of his nose.

"He's asleep on the couch" Michonne replied, relieved that she had finally gotten through to him.

"If he wakes up can you tell him I need to talk to him" Rick said moving towards living room.

"Where are you going?" Michonne asked suspiciously moving after him.

"Gotta go cancel dinner plans" He said, smiling as he walked out to the living room.


	3. Chapter 3

I am not happy with this and it's really short (sorry) but I wanted to post it before the mid season premiere (cutting it a little fine but I got it done)

* * *

Rick walked slowly into the living room still stunned by his conversation with Michonne. He just wanted to hug his son but that would have to wait. As he walked into the living room to get to the front door, he saw Carl's sparkly blue eyes peering over the edge of the sofa covered in a blanket, curled up into a ball. He made eye contact with Rick as he entered the room and immediately pulled his head under the blanket completely and curled up even smaller. Rick sighed sadly, he had spent so much time trying to keep his son safe but never bothered to see if he was happy. He moved silently across the room and took a seat next to him on the sofa.

"Did you hear all that?" Rick asked quietly. When he received no answer he continued "I love you more than anything, no matter what and I'm so proud of you, I'm so sorry I didn't notice all this sooner" His voice cracked as tears filled his eyes, he placed a hand on Carl's head, stroking his hair through the blanket. "I know it's been hard for you and I know I'm not good at talking but even if I don't say it I care about you and will support you no matter what, I just want you to be happy"

Carl slowly peeked his head from under the blanket exposing his watery eyes, still avoiding eye contact and tear tracked face still partly covered by his hands rubbing his nose with his shirt sleeve.

"I-I'm sorry" Carl whispered sitting up and pulling the blanket around his shoulders and wiping away a new wave of tears.

Rick sighed and pulled Carl into his chest "You have nothing to apologize for"

"I can't be what you want me to be" Carl whispered into Rick's chest.

"All I want is for you to be happy" Rick replied, letting his tears fall into Carl's hair. "All that matters to me is that you and Judy are happy and safe"

Carl nodded into Rick's chest "Thanks dad"

They both sat there in silence for about 10 minutes with Carl still wrapped in the blanket with his head on his father's chest as Rick rubbed circles on his back. Rick looked up when her heard Michonne peak around the door, her face breaking into a huge smile when she saw them.

"Thank you" He mouthed at her, his face breaking into an even bigger smile. Feeling his dad move his head Carl looked up confused before turning to see Michonne in the doorway.

"H-hi" he stuttered awkwardly bringing the blanket back up to his face and moving back into the middle of the sofa.

"Hey" She replied timidly walking further into the room, receiving a reassuring smile from Rick she sat down on Carl's other side.

"Thank you" Carl whispered looking up at Michonne with his big watery blue eyes. Michonne felt a lump form in her throat and immediately pulled Carl into a hug, feeling her heart swell as he buried his head in her shoulder she looked up to see Rick grinning from ear to ear.

"What?" She asked giving Rick a confused grin.

"Thank you" Rick said again placing his hand on Carl's head patting his hair "You guys are the only family I need"

"Promise?" Carl whispered from Michonne's shoulder.

"Promise" Rick whispered back looking up at Michonne giving her a meaningful smile to which she smiled back knowingly.


End file.
